A Crude Awakening

Here’s a crude awakening to us all. We are now all living in an age that relies heavily on fossil energy, a non-renewable energy source that is reaching its peak. The definition of peak oil may be new to many (me myself included), but its certainly something that we should be aware of.

Peak Oil doesn’t mean ‘running out of oil’, but rather ‘running out of cheap and plentiful oil’
- CrudeAwakening.org

Well, aren’t the cost of petrol oil getting more expensive these days than 10 years ago? Back in Malaysia, we were all shaken by the recent price hike when the government decided to reduce the oil subsidy due to the escalating price of oil in the world market. A liter of petrol was once cheaper than a liter of mineral water, but today, its almost twice as much as it used to be. The prices of many products and services were also subsequently increased due to the increase in petrol price.

The price of oil is determined by the basic principle of economics – the supply and demand. The demand of oil has been ever increasing over the last century, but the ability to increase the supply of oil has been limited recently. Many oil fields in the America, Europe, and Russia has been depleted over the years. The Middle-East countries is today’s biggest oil producer in the world with the biggest estimated remaining oil reserves currently (although this numbers can be doubtful). This is perhaps one of the biggest reason the US invaded Iraq.

It would take an average man physical labor of 25000 hours to produce the energy contained in that one barrel of oil
- Matthew David Savinar

This is perhaps why we’re so addicted to oil. The energy contained in oil is so dense and cheaply available. We’ve not been putting much research and development into other sources of energy ever since mankind discovered oil until recently. Perhaps its time to renew our efforts to improve on new clean renewable energy sources. Some words of wisdom from the popular self-improvement book, Who Moved My Cheese should be rightfully applied here as well. The signs are there, but do we have a plan when the oil peaks?

I’m not too sure many of us are prepared for a total change in lifestyle when oil peaks. We’ll need to find new technology to power all our existing internal combustion engine for transportation. Without our modern transportation, we’ll have difficulty to sustain our food supply chain, international trades and our suburban-city planning based on the commuting lifestyle.

A Crude Awakening is an enlightening movie which I’ll like to recommend everyone to watch. By the way, there’s some clips in the movie being shot in Malaysia.